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Let me preface this by saying, I love everything Spurrier has done for us. Thanks to Spurrier we pretty much "started from the bottom now we here". From this point forward though, there should be no more excuses for lack of hardware. No more we should have done this or that.

I'm not saying we have to win every game we play. Sometimes you're just not the better team. What HAS to stop is losing games EVERY year to teams we shouldn't.

2010: Kentucky loss. Embarrasing considering what we did the week before. Had the east not been so down that year, that loss would have cost us the east as well.

2011: Auburn. No excuse. That team was bad. We were the best team in the east that year and we gave the division away with that loss.

2012: Florida. Some people may disagree since it was at the swamp, but there is no excuse for the way we played that game. I was there and that was the most pathetic performance I have seen since clemson 08. That Florida team might have had a good record, but we gave the division away AGAIN with that performance.

With all that being said we have had bright spots. How can one complain in 2011 when we win the most games ever in a year? How can one complain in 2012 when we repeat it? How can one complain in 2013 when we finish #4 in the nation? You simply can't.

But that's why I create this thread. There are no more excuses. Yea we lost to Tennessee BUT we finished #4. Well take a look at that. That is the 2 teams playing for the National Championship, the Rose Bowl winners, and then us. We are RIGHT there. The past 3 years only Alabama, Oregon, and Stanford can match our success. But Bama just had a disaster of a season at 11-2, same for Oregon. Stanford won their conference, but they could have had much more.

There are no more firsts for the program except the obvious. Its time to get it done from start to finish. No more "yea we lost this but at least we did this for the first time". No more one game where we look like a shell of ourselves. No more terrible coaching decisions in key moments.

Let me preface this by saying, I love everything Spurrier has done for us. Thanks to Spurrier we pretty much "started from the bottom now we here". From this point forward though, there should be no more excuses for lack of hardware. No more we should have done this or that.

I'm not saying we have to win every game we play. Sometimes you're just not the better team. What HAS to stop is losing games EVERY year to teams we shouldn't.

2010: Kentucky loss. Embarrasing considering what we did the week before. Had the east not been so down that year, that loss would have cost us the east as well.

2011: Auburn. No excuse. That team was bad. We were the best team in the east that year and we gave the division away with that loss.

2012: Florida. Some people may disagree since it was at the swamp, but there is no excuse for the way we played that game. I was there and that was the most pathetic performance I have seen since clemson 08. That Florida team might have had a good record, but we gave the division away AGAIN with that performance.

With all that being said we have had bright spots. How can one complain in 2011 when we win the most games ever in a year? How can one complain in 2012 when we repeat it? How can one complain in 2013 when we finish #4 in the nation? You simply can't.

But that's why I create this thread. There are no more excuses. Yea we lost to Tennessee BUT we finished #4. Well take a look at that. That is the 2 teams playing for the National Championship, the Rose Bowl winners, and then us. We are RIGHT there. The past 3 years only Alabama, Oregon, and Stanford can match our success. But Bama just had a disaster of a season at 11-2, same for Oregon. Stanford won their conference, but they could have had much more.

There are no more firsts for the program except the obvious. Its time to get it done from start to finish. No more "yea we lost this but at least we did this for the first time". No more one game where we look like a shell of ourselves. No more terrible coaching decisions in key moments.

What do you propose we all do if we go 11-2 next season and finish top 5?

Well it depends on how that 11-2 is. Let's say Florida turns it around and we lose a close one in the swamp and lose at a top 5 auburn and georgia only loses to us and wins the east. It would suck, but you can't complain about that. Were not Alabama.

Changes would need to be made. Obviously were not gonna fire Spurrier, especially as long as he's beating clemson. But I would say we would need some hardware in the next 3 years or Spurrier is gone. By hardware I mean at the very least an SEC east and a competitive SEC championship game. If it doesn't happen, then Spurrier will give someone else a try IMO. By no means should we ever fire Spurrier, he's earned the right to leave when he wants and has stated several times when he thinks he can't get it done he will step aside.

I agree, but even if we would have beaten Tennessee, I doubt we would have beaten Auburn in the SEC title game. Wisconsin ran the ball down our throats and Auburn would have done the same thing. So we would still have finished with a 11-2 season and a win in the Capital One Bowl. The only difference would be an SEC East title, and we already have one of those.

But yeah, I'm very happy with what our Gamecocks have been accomplishing, considering where we once were, but it's time to take the next step. We've already won 11 games, beaten top ranked opponents, our rivals, won the SEC East, etc, but it's now time to win the SEC Championship and win a BCS game.

Wisconsin ran the ball down our throats and Auburn would have done the same thing.

I'm not so sure. I'm not saying we would have won, but the run offense that Wisconsin uses (Power) isn't the same as what Auburn uses (Spread/Inverted Veer/Zone read). Wisky's O-line was why they "ran it down our throats" and Auburn's line isn't of the same caliber. Georgia was batted down/tipped pass away from beating them.

__________________
"You guys thought we had a good game just cause we got 5 td's, hell we had a chance to score 8 td's..." - Steve Spurrier

I agree, but even if we would have beaten Tennessee, I doubt we would have beaten Auburn in the SEC title game. Wisconsin ran the ball down our throats and Auburn would have done the same thing. So we would still have finished with a 11-2 season and a win in the Capital One Bowl. The only difference would be an SEC East title, and we already have one of those.

But yeah, I'm very happy with what our Gamecocks have been accomplishing, considering where we once were, but it's time to take the next step. We've already won 11 games, beaten top ranked opponents, our rivals, won the SEC East, etc, but it's now time to win the SEC Championship and win a BCS game.

I agree that we probably wouldn't have beaten Auburn, but we have to start giving ourselves a chance. If you think about it, we probably should have just played in our 4th straight SEC champpionship game. I would like to think we would have won one of those.

We need to get some hardware in the trophy case. A lot of success the past few years but nothing solid to show for it. I want championships. Divisional, conference, national. Any, most or all of the above.

Changes would need to be made. Obviously were not gonna fire Spurrier, especially as long as he's beating clemson. But I would say we would need some hardware in the next 3 years or Spurrier is gone. By hardware I mean at the very least an SEC east and a competitive SEC championship game. If it doesn't happen, then Spurrier will give someone else a try IMO. By no means should we ever fire Spurrier, he's earned the right to leave when he wants and has stated several times when he thinks he can't get it done he will step aside.

I'm sorry, but with three consecutive 11 win seasons, I find all this talk
comical. Were you old enough to realize what this team was like in the
mid 2000s ? (not that long ago) Or old enough to have gone through the 0-21
stretch of games ? (again, not really that long ago if you're older than
15 years old). Do you remember the first four years since Spurrier took
over here ? .... We weren't a really good program, and we had some of
the worst facilities in the SEC. .... I remember all of that and even beyond
those years when Gamecock football wasn't even THAT good.

ALSO,
Do you realize how difficult it is for ANY team, even the LSUs, ALABAMAs,
GEORGIAs, OREGONs etc..... to go three consecutive seasons with
11 wins ???? I'm sorry, but for anyone here who posted that they agree
that this program has to win MORE in the next few seasons or our coach
needs to step down is an embarassment to this fanbase !! Four consecutive
seasons of Top 25 rankings with improvements each season, and you
think you're entitled to more, or our Coach needs to go ?!?!?!?!
Success is not measured by Championship trophies when you have never
had anything CLOSE To this kind of success in the entire history of your
program. .. I'm going to break the bad news to you all now... We will
drop in the rankings and season records at some point soon... maybe
even next season, but that will by no means, mean that this program
and our coach has peaked, and needs to start considering leaving.
Our AD, our Admin and our Coaches are building a winning program here
and doing one hell of an outstanding job of it, but almost demanding
better than what we've done the past 3-4 years or Coach Spurrier should
leave ?!?!? I swear there are times when I am embarassed to be called
a Gamecock fan when I see posts like this. .... Seriously.

My questions is...... with the bolded statements above:
Just how to YOU plan to make that happen, and how are you sure coach
Spurrier will step down if this doesn't happen according to YOUR timeline ?
I'd really like to know that.

I'm sorry, but with three consecutive 11 win seasons, I find all this talk
comical. Were you old enough to realize what this team was like in the
mid 2000s ? (not that long ago) Or old enough to have gone through the 0-21
stretch of games ? (again, not really that long ago if you're older than
15 years old). Do you remember the first four years since Spurrier took
over here ? .... We weren't a really good program, and we had some of
the worst facilities in the SEC. .... I remember all of that and even beyond
those years when Gamecock football wasn't even THAT good.

ALSO,
Do you realize how difficult it is for ANY team, even the LSUs, ALABAMAs,
GEORGIAs, OREGONs etc..... to go three consecutive seasons with
11 wins ???? I'm sorry, but for anyone here who posted that they agree
that this program has to win MORE in the next few seasons or our coach
needs to step down is an embarassment to this fanbase !! Four consecutive
seasons of Top 25 rankings with improvements each season, and you
think you're entitled to more, or our Coach needs to go ?!?!?!?!
Success is not measured by Championship trophies when you have never
had anything CLOSE To this kind of success in the entire history of your
program. .. I'm going to break the bad news to you all now... We will
drop in the rankings and season records at some point soon... maybe
even next season, but that will by no means, mean that this program
and our coach has peaked, and needs to start considering leaving.
Our AD, our Admin and our Coaches are building a winning program here
and doing one hell of an outstanding job of it, but almost demanding
better than what we've done the past 3-4 years or Coach Spurrier should
leave ?!?!? I swear there are times when I am embarassed to be called
a Gamecock fan when I see posts like this. .... Seriously.

My questions is...... with the bolded statements above:
Just how to YOU plan to make that happen, and how are you sure coach
Spurrier will step down if this doesn't happen according to YOUR timeline ?
I'd really like to know that.

I never said he had to step down, all I said is that all we have left to do is bring home the hardware.